Hungary



(No Model a Shegts-Sheet 1.

' "ADOLP GRA F VON BUONACOORSI DI PISTOJA.

AUTO-MOBILE TORPEDO. I

1' No. 413,585.. Patented 0015.22, 188

(No Model.) a Sheets-Shet 2.

ADOLF GRAF VON BUONAGGORSI DI PISTOJA. AUTO-MOBILE TORPBIDO. No.413,585. Patented'oct. 22', 1889.

ray 2 N. PETERS. Photo-HW Wlhilblk D-C- .(No Model.) I a sheets-g ee: 3.ADOLF GRAP VON BUONACGORSI DI PISTOJA.

' AUTO-MOBILE TORPEDO.

No. 413,585. I Patented Oct. 22, 1889.

PETERS. Phaimlflhngnaher. wmimwfmc,

1 UNITED STATES Y PATE T OFFICE.

ADOLF GRAF VON BUONACCORSI DI PISTOJA, OF VIENNA, AUSTRlA- HUNGARY.

AUTO=MOBILETORPEDO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 413,585, dated October22, 1889.

Application filed November 15, 1888. $erial No. 290,966. (No model.)Patented in Germany February 24,1888, No. 49,125; in 'fE'ranoe February24,1888, No. 188,945: in Belgium March 12, 1888, No. 81,003; in EnglandMarch 20, 1888, No. 4,297,- in Italy March 31, 1888, XXII, 23,135, XLV,4:31; in Portugal Mayl'7, 1888, No.1,244; in Norway May 28, 1888,151'0.934;

in Austria-Hungary June 26, 1888, No. 8,093 and No.

To alltultom it 11mg concern:

Be it known that I, ADOLF GRAF VON BUO- NACCORSI n1 PISTOJA, a subjectof the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, residing at Vienna, in the Provinceof Lower Austria, in theEmpire of Austria-Hungary, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Self-Propelling 'lorpedoes, (forwhichlhave obtained Letters.Patent in Austria-Hungary, No. 8,093 and No.21,102, dated'lune '26, 1888; in Germany, No. 49,125, dated February 24,1888; in France, No; 188,945, dated February 24, 1888; in Belgium, No.81,003, dated March 12, 1888; in Italy, Vol. XXII, No. 23,135, andVol.XLV, N0. 431, dated March 31, 1888; in Spain, No. 8,035, dated June 30,1888; in Portugal, No. 1,244, dated May 17, 1888; in England, No. 4,297,dated March 20, 1888; in .Norway, No. 934:, dated May 28, 1888 and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying d rawings, and to letters or figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part 'of this specification. v v

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectionaland more or less schematic View of a torpedo, showing its generalconstruction and arrangement. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal axial section ofthe chambers in rear of the ballast or sinking chamber, illusof thechamber immediately in rear of the 21,102, and in Spainllune 30,1888,110. 8,035.v I

ballast or sinking chamber, illustrating the connections between thetubular bearing for the propeller shaft and the air-main, and showing,also,a portion of the mechanism for imparting longitudinal motion to thepro peller-shaft; and Fig. 5 shows sections on lines w w and y 'y, Fig.3, the hexagonal head of the tubular bearing for thepropeller-shaftclusively by means of compressed air utilized in the samemanner as steam is-that is to say, by admitting the air to a pistoncylinder or cylinders to drivea piston or pistons by r the expansivepower of the air, the reciprocating motion of the piston orpisto'nsbeing converted into a rotarymotion by connection of the piston-rod to acrank-shaft, the motion of the latter being transmitted by suitablegearing to the propeller-shafts in such manner as .to cause thepropellers to revolve in reverse.

directions.

ernors, the slide-valves that control theoperations of the pistons, andfor the gearing be tween the driving and propeller shafts, acomparatively great amount of power being necessary to overcome theinertia of these mechanisms. There are, however, still further losses ofpower, due to various causes-as, for instance, to frictional resistanceto the flow This mode of propulsion presents; great disadvantages, inthat. considerable space is required for the aceommodationlof thepiston-cylinders, the connections between. their pistons and thedriving-shafts, the gova of the compressed air through the line-pipes, I

both when admitting the air to or exhausting it from thepiston-cylinders, thus limiting the speed of the torpedo accordingly.

By the application of the principles of the Barker reaction-wheel to thepropulsion of the torpedo, the air engines, their controlling valvesandgovernors, the crankshafts, the connections between said shafts and]the power-pistons, and the gearing between the crank and propellershafts are dispensed with, a single shaft carrying both propellers andserving at the same time as a conduit for the motive fluid beingemployed, and this shaft is connected directly with the compressed-airreservoir, which occupies nearly one-half the length. of the shell ofthe torpedo.

The principle involved in the novel application of power, whereby themechanism referred to can be dispensed with, consists in applying thepower directly to the propellers, so that the live force, instead of thestatic pressure of the compressed air, is made available and utilized,and in admitting the compressed air in the form of jets of greatvelocity and density to the points where the power is to be applied, theair acting by aerodynamic impact upon the blades of the screW-propeller. It is evident that by such an application of the motive fluidthe range of speed of the torpedo is very materially increased, whilethe inner space of the torpedo can be utilized to greater advantage, inthat all the operating mechanisms may be arranged or contained withinthe torpedo-shell, instead of having to locatea great portion of suchmechanism on the outside of such shell, as has been the case heretofore.

Inasmuch as the propeller-shaft is a nonrotatingone, the said shaft mayitself be used as a duet for the motive fluid, as above stated,

. both to the propellers as well as to other mechanisn1s.as, forexample, the mechanism or intermediate mechanism that governs or 0011-trols the depth of immersion of the torpedo and automatic cutoffdevices, there being sufficient space left for the use of a plurality ofsinking or immersing valves inst-cad of a single one, as has been thecase heretofore, and such valves maybe operated directly instead ofindirectly, thereby increasing the efficiency of the mechanism employedfor sinking the torpedo in case it should miss its aim, and suchmechanism may be made to operate automatically and at the proper time,while the time required for filling the ballast or sinking chamber ismaterially shortened.

As a means for controlling the depth of immersion of the torpedo duringits course through the water, I utilize the hydrostatic pressure of theambient water, so that any variation in the depth of immersion willcause the correspondingly varying hydrostatic pressure to operate theimmersing-rudder to maintain the torpedo at agiven depth during itscourse through the water This mechanism I do not, however, claim herein;but it is shown, described, and claimed in my application for patent,Serial No. 271,0l7, filed April 18, 1888.

In the choice of the outlines of the torpedo it is the aim to preservethatform which presents the least resistance to motion through the waterand has the least tendency to the formation of eddies, and at the sametime to give to the compressed-air chamber a perfectly symmetrical formand to locate the same as near the bow or head of the torpedo aspossible, thereby reducing the labor and cost of the construction of theair-chamber and facilitating the distribution of the weight of theentire structure and its contained mechanism, so that the persistence ofthe torpedo in its course through the water, which depends chiefly upona perfect equalization or distribution of weight, is greatly increased.

In order that the invention may be better understood I will describe thesame in detail, referring to the accompanying drawings.

In the construction of the torpedo I divide the hull or shell thereof asfollows, referring to Fig. 1:

O is the chamber for the charge of explosive, located at the bow of thetorpedo; D, a chamber open to the ambient water, to one of the walls ofwhich is secured a diaphragm influenced by the hydrostatic pressure insaid chamber.

E is a chamber containing the mechanism that is controlled by thediaphragm and the mechanism for returning the diaphragm into its normalposition when moved out of it by the hydrostatic pressure in chamber D.The reservoir for the compressed air is indicated by E, and F is thechamber that contains the devices for operating the admission-valve toadmit the compressed air from the reservoir to the distributing-pipe,and also the intermediate mechanism that controls the immersing-rudderor horizontal fin.

G is the sinking orballast chamber; II, the chamber that contains themechanism for, operating the sinking-valves and for imparting alongitudinal motion to the tiller or operating-rod of theimmersing-rudder, and Iis the chamber in which is contained themechanism that controls the operating devices of the V sinking-valves.

Although I prefer to employ all of the above-described mechanisms formore effectually controlling the movements and operations of thetorpedo, yet some or all of them may be dispensed with and othersemployed; and as all of these mechanisms form subjectmatter of separateapplications for patents I have deemed it unnecessary to describe themin detail, except in so far as such description is necessary to the fullcomprehension of this invention. The motive fluid (air) is compressed tofrom seventy to ninety atmospheres within a cylindrical chamber orreservoir E, Fig. 1, having dome-shaped heads or ends 8 8 respectively.To the head a is connected the distributing-pipe, which is preferablycomposed of three sections 2', p and IIO p. The section zis connectedwith the head e The section 12 is so connected with the section 2 as toadapt it to revolve for purposes presently explained, while the section19 is rigidly connected with pipe-section p by means of a coupling-headformed thereon or secured thereto, and a stuffing-box gland p ,'as shownin Fig. 4. The pipe 5 is closed at its outer end and serves asabearingfor the tubular propeller-shaft q. On the propeller-shaft q are mountedtwo screw-propellers A and B,"so as to rotate freely on said shaft, saidpropellers having their blades curved in opposite directions, the bladesof the propeller'A being, for instance, portions" of right-handscrew-threads, while those of Rare portions of left-hand screw-threads.In the hub of each propeller is formed an axial chamber A andB',respectively, that has the form of a truncated cone inlongitudinal-section, and through whi'ch'the shaft q'passes, and intowhich the compressed air is ad mitted through ports 19' and and q" andqZformed in pipe p and shaft g, respectively, said ports p pregisteringiwith those q g respectively, and- With theaxial chambers'A Bin the pro-' peller-hubs A B, which" chambers here 'per-' form thefunction of auxiliaryreservoirs', and

which jointly with the moment of inertia of the revolving propellersregulate the speed of the torpedo,the air 'fiowing out through passagesN'A B B Figs. 3 andr3 formed in the bladesof the propellers. The aero- CClynamic'impact Of rapidl3"mdvingmole' miles upon'the' opposite elementsof the sides of the passages, as well as the recoil exerted inadirection the'reverse of that of the movement of thesaid molecules,causes 1 the screw propellers to 'revolve'in the-direction" of thecurvatureof their helical blades.

' In'this mode of rotating the p ropeller-blades,

which is based upon the principles involved in the Barker reaction-wheehthe speed of onepropelle'r is rendered quiteindependent peller uponthe'course' of a torpedo is well known," and to compensate thisact-ionin part' a second propell-erfr'otating in a reverse direction andat the same speed has been used, the direction of motion beingmaintained throughthe agency of vertical rudders. The unequal action oftwo propellersywhich has heretofore been regarded" as a disturbingfactor in the direction of the torp edo, is by my invention madeavailable as a factor for direct ing 'or maintaining the torpedo in itscourse. Since the deviating or diverting action or ef'-' fect of thepropellers increases or' decreases in thesame'rat-io as their speed ofrevolution,'I found that by providing 'prope "means" this difference inthe deviating action of the propellers may be made sufficiently great,so

that the action of one will compensate th'e actiontof the otherpropeller, as Well as other deviating influences exerted on the torpedoand as the speed of-rotation'of propellers depends upon the volume ofair actingdr' rectly upon them, or, in other words, upon the area oftheports that admit the air to the propellers, it is obvious that by aproper adj ustment of these areas relatively to each other acorresponding steering action will be exerted upon the torpedo. Thevariation in or adjustment of the area of the admissionports p q p (1 isaccomplished by simply revolving the pipep within the shaft q so as tomore or less cover the ports'q' 4.1 These ports q q are only one-halfthe diameter of the ports 19 19 and are formed by longitudi- 'nalslotsthat do not lie" in the same longitudinal' plane relatively to eachother, so that by properly positioning the pipe 19 the area of theports, and consequently the volume' of air admitted tothepropeller-chainbers, may be regulated at will. As shown in Figs..3 and3, these ports communicate" w-ith'the passages- A 13 of the propeller-jblades through the annular conical cham- 1 her A" in the hubs of thepropellers A and B, sothat the volume of compressed air admitteddirectlyto the said chambers and passages. Consequently the speed at whichth'epropellers rotate will depend-upon the ad-' justinent of the port-areas;and that the propeller A- may be rotated at a greater speed than thepropeller B,'or vice versa. The

adjustment of the tube pwithin the shaft'q is efiected by means ofa keyor Wrench ap'--' plied to the angular head p ,Figs.'2 and 4,"

at the inner end of the pipe p,whose outer end is closed,as well as theouter-end ofthe shaft q, as above stated, and, asshownjthe outer end ofshaft 'q'is closed by a screwplug to which the horizontal rudderisjc'on- I Figs. 3a'and '5 vthat by a partial rotation of the h ead p ofpipe 1) (shown in dotted lines" nected. It will be seen by an inspection*of in Fig-[5 an'd'infull lines in 2 and -in the direction of arrow 1the ports 1') q. in

pipe-grand shaft q will cease to registeigtheair being cut-off fromthe'propeller-chamber A, while the ports p will still fully registerwith the ports g thus applyi-ngthe'full 1no-" tiv'e power to thepropeller B. A partial rotation of the pipe 10 in a reverse'direction,or

of a key or Wrench, as stated above.

' In trial-launching to determine the speed of the torpedo andin orderto regulate the relative speed of the two propellers,-so"that" "r20 thatof arrows 2, will produce a reverse re-' t 5 thetorpedo-shell, Fig. 4,for the introduction the deviating action thereof may be counteracted,it is necessary to ascertain the number of revolutions of the propellersunder given pressures of air. To this end I provide a registeringmechanism that comprises a graduated dial 1, revoluble on a fixed arborthat carries an index t as shown in Figs. 3 and 3.

I have stated hereinbefore that the pro peller-shaft is connected to theimmersing or steering rudder T, and consequently also performs thefunction of tiller.

As the means for impartinglongitudinal motion to the propeller-shaft qforoperating the rudder T have been fully described and claimed in anapplication for Letters. Patent filed April 18, 1888, Serial No.271,047, it will. not be necessary to again describe themhere.

It will, however, be obvious that the saidrudder may be operated by anyother means and that the propeller-shaft q I may be connected with ormounted on the pipe 17 as not to. move longitudinally. In fact, thepropeller-shaft may be connected directly to the compressedairreservoir, and other means than those shown maybe employed for adjust-ingthe portareas to impart to the propellers auniform ora variablespeed.as, for instance, a, short cylinder adapted to be partly revolvedin shaft q and provided with delivery ports. p 11 may be inserted inshaft g from. the rear end and adjusted from that end.

Any suitable means. may be employed to admit the compressed air to andcut it off from the distributiug-main-as, for instance, a suitable valveor stop-cock may be interposed in the pipe 2, or the propeller-shaft q,when said shaft is connected directly with the compressed-air reservoir.I prefer, however, to employ the valve mechanism fully shown anddescribed in my application for.

patent filed November 15,1888, Serial No. 200,968, whether suchmechanism is applied as therein shown or whether it is applied to thepropeller-shaft q where, said shaft is 0011- nected directly with thecompressed-air res-.

ervoir, such changes in the arrangement of the devices referred to beingwithin the province of the skilled mechanic.

I-Iavingdescribed my inventiou ,what Iclaim 1. In a. torpedo, thecombination of a nonrotary supply-pipe for conveying the motive powerunder pressure, having outlet-ports,

with a screw-propeller provided with outletducts through its blades andformed with a.

pellers. having their blades curved in opposite directions, andcurvedchannels terminating in openings in the lineof said curves andcommunicating with. the said. side ports in both the said pipes,substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In a torpedo, the combination, with the compressed-air reservoir, thesupply-pipe 19, having two separate rows of side dischargeports andconveying the motive fluid under pressure, and the tubularpropeller-shaft q, having two corresponding rows of sidedischarge-ports, of two independent screw-propellers having. theirblades curved in opposite directions, and curved channels terminating inopenings in the lines of said curves and having chambered hubs, into thechambers whereof the ports of both pipes open, and into which chambersthe said curved channels open, whereby the said propeller-chambers serveas auxiliary reservoirs for the motive fluid which operates thepropellers.

4. In a torpedo, the combination of a supply-pipe for conveying themotive fluidunder pressure and provided with deliveryports,

a tubular shaft upon said pi e, having means for being moved longitudina1y upon the. same and having ports of greater longitudinal area thanthose of the supply-pipe and registering. therewith, a. screw-propellerjournaled upon.

said shaft and having hollow blades communicating with said ports, andan immersingrudder controlled by the longitudinal motion of said'shaft,substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the SCI'GIV-PI'Os pellers A and B, the bladeswhereof are curved in reverse directions, said propellers havingchambered hubs and an open pas-.

sage formed in the blades thereof, of a tubu lar shaft connected with asource of motive. fluid under pressure, on which shaft said pro-.pellers are loosely mounted, provided with deliveryports registeringwith the propellerhubs, and a tubular valve revoluble in thepropellershaft and provided with ports adapted to register with theshaft -ports, whereby the area of the shaft-ports may be adjusted,substantially as and for the purposes. specified.

6. The combination, with the screw-propellers A and B, the bladeswhereof are curved in reverse directions, said propellers havingchambered hubs, and an open passage formed in said blades, of a tubularshaft connected with a source of motive fluid un-.

der pressure, on which shaft said propellers are loosely mounted,provided with ports arranged in different longitudinal planes andregistering with the propeller-hubs, and a tubular valve arranged withinthe propellershaft and having ports of greater area than theshaft-ports, arranged in the same longitudinal plane and adapted toregister with the shaftports, whereby the relative area of theshaft-ports may be variedto. vary the relative speed of the propellers,substantially as and for the purposes specified.

7. In a torpedo, the combination, with the propeller or propellers andthe horizontal or ports being of less area than and adapted to registerwith the ports p and reactionpropellers A B, loosely mounted on shaft q,

substantially as and for the purposes specified.

' 9; The combination, with the pipe 19, closed atone end and connectedat the other with a source of; motive fluid under pressure, said pipebeing revoluble'and provided with ports 19' 19 arranged in the samelongitudinal plane, of the tubular shaft 'q, mounted and movablelongitudinally on pipe 10, said shaft being provided with ports q garranged in different longitudinal planes and of less transverse areaand of greater longitudinal area than the ports p p of pipe 19,reactionpropellers A B, loosely mounted on shaft q, and a horizontal orimmersion rudder con: trolled by said shaft, substantially as and forthe purposes specified.

10. In a torpedo, the combination, With the compressed-air reservoir andthe supply-pipe conveying the motive fluid under pressure, of twoindependent screw-propellers mounted loosely upon the same shaft,revolving in opposite directions and provided with worms upon theirhubs, a registering device for each propeller having gearing engaged bysaid worms, and means, substantially such as described, for regulatingthe volume of air admitted to the propellers and the relative speedthereof, whereby the deviating or di verting action or effect of onepropeller in relation to the other is ascertained and counteracted orcompensated.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.V

ADOLF GRAB VON BUONAOCORSI DI PISTOJA. Witnesses:

OTTO ScH FrEn, OTTO MAAS.

